Green Mountain Collection 1

by Marie Force

  All he could think about was, what if it didn’t? What if she didn’t go for it? What if she had been counting on her departure to extricate herself from their affair or whatever you’d call it? That thought left him with a sick feeling in his stomach. That wasn’t possible. He knew her feelings for him were every bit as strong as his were for her, even if neither of them had put words to feelings.

  It wasn’t just the sex, which was beyond amazing. He felt a connection to her he’d never experienced with another living soul, and letting her get away simply wasn’t an option.

  With that in mind, he bounded out of the truck when Hunter finally arrived. “What the hell took you so long?”

  “I stopped at a red light. I hope that meets with your approval. Now are you going to tell me what was so important that you dragged me out of work?”

  “I need to borrow some clothes.”

  Hunter raised a dark brow as he twirled his car keys around his index finger with a maddening lack of urgency. “What kind of clothes?”

  “The nice ones that you have plenty of and I have none of.”

  “What’s the occasion?”

  “I don’t want to say,” Will replied, shifting from one foot to the other.

  “Are you going to do something stupid?”

  “I hope not.”

  “Hmm,” Hunter said as he headed for the front door and inserted his key. “You’ll recall I’ve been telling you for years that you needed to get some grown-up clothes.”

  “And I’ve been telling you for years that I had no use for them.”

  “Yet here you are, looking like a lunatic, because you suddenly need them. If you’d planned ahead—”

  “Shut up, Hunter! Just shut up. I don’t need a lecture. Not right now. Are you going to help me out or not?”

  “Of course I’m going to help you out. Was that ever in doubt? But I have to make you suffer first, or I wouldn’t be doing my job as your insufferable big brother.”

  “You’ve got the insufferable part down to a science.”

  Hunter smirked, as Will had known he would. “I’m worried about the way you’ve gone off the deep end over this girl, bro.” He led the way up the narrow stairway to his bedroom.

  Will hadn’t been upstairs here in a while. The last time was when he helped Hunter paint the hallway. “Looks good up here,” Will said, taking a quick glance at the Ansel Adams prints that hung in a row on the dark taupe wall.

  “Is that your way to avoid admitting you are, in fact, off the deep end?”

  “I can’t deny it, so I’m not going to try.”

  “What happens when she leaves for good?”

  The question shot a spear of pain straight to Will’s overcommitted heart. “I don’t know, man. I’m figuring this out one minute at a time.”

  Hunter gestured to the walk-in closet he’d created by eliminating the smallest of the bedrooms. “What’s mine is yours.”

  “Holy shit,” Will said, taking in the neat rows of dress shirts, pants and suits. “You’re worse than a freaking girl.”

  “Do you want my help or not?”

  “I want your help, but I have no idea what I even need.”

  “Maybe if you told me a little about what you’ve got planned, I could help you out …”

  “Don’t bust my balls, all right?”

  “I’ll try my hardest not to.”

  Since Will knew that was the best he was going to get, he said, “I’m going to invite myself to go with her to New York.”

  “Why?”

  “So I can see where she lives and works and meet her friends and see her home and spend more time with her.” The words came out in a rush of anxiety that gripped him when he wondered if she’d welcome his plan.

  “I can’t picture you moving there, Will.”

  “I never said I was going to.”

  Eyeing him warily, Hunter nudged Will aside and stepped into the closet. From the top shelf he produced a garment bag. “Hold this.”

  Will did as he was told.

  “What’re you going to do while you’re there?”

  “How the hell do I know? She loves the theater, and I could possibly cross paths with her billionaire father. Dinner out. I don’t know.” Suddenly the absurdity—and the futility—of what he was trying to do hit him like a ton of bricks. He stumbled backward and sat on Hunter’s bed, dropping his head into his hands as despair overtook him.

  “What the hell am I doing? I’ve got no business chasing after her in the city. I’ve never even been there or had any desire to go. I’m going to stick out like a sore thumb and embarrass the hell out of her no matter how well you dress me.”

  Hunter surprised him when he sat next to him. “Stop talking shit.”

  His brother’s tone had Will looking over at him.

  “You’re not going to embarrass her. If she cares about you at all—and judging from the moony, lovesick way she looks at you, I’d say she does—she’s not going to care if you stick out like a sore thumb. She’ll care that you made the effort to fit into her world.”

  “You think so? Really?”

  Hunter rolled his eyes. “This is worse than I thought. Are you in love with her?”

  Will gave a brief nod.

  “Dude, you just can’t do simple, can you? Always got to be wanting something outside the comfort zone.”

  “My pattern of self-inflicted torture is not intentional, trust me on that.”

  Hunter got up and went to the closet. He emerged holding a dark suit with a dress shirt and tie. “This for the theater. If it’s formal, find a tux shop. There has to be a million of them in the city.” He produced several other dress shirts, a couple more ties and two pairs of dress pants—one black and the other gray. “How long are you planning to be there?”

  “Maybe a week?”

  Hunter went back to the closet and came back with two more shirts, a belt and a pair of black shoes that had square toes.

  “Those look like pilgrim shoes.”

  “You’ll see them everywhere in the city,” Hunter assured him.

  “Why do you have all this stuff living in this town?”

  “I like nice clothes. So what?”

  Will hid his smirk because he wouldn’t put it past Hunter to take it all back if he thought his brother was making fun of him.

  “Were you planning to tell anyone you’re taking the week off?”

  “I’m not taking it off. I’ll have my laptop with me, and I’ll be working.” Another thought occurred to him. “Crap. The spring craft fair in Montpelier is on Sunday. I usually go to check out what’s new and see if there’s anything we might want to offer in the store.”

  The realization was a major bummer as the fair was a big part of his annual routine.

  “Oh, for crap’s sake,” Hunter said, exasperated. “I’ll go.”

  Will looked up at him. “You will? You hate that stuff.”

  “Yeah, but I don’t hate you. Yet. Keep up this whole hangdog routine, and I might start to actively hate you.”

  Will got up and hugged Hunter. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d had cause to hug Hunter, but his brother’s help and support certainly warranted it.

  Hunter patted him awkwardly on the back. “Make this work, will ya? I don’t want to deal with you if it doesn’t.”

  “I’ll do my best.” He started to leave the room, but thought of something else he wanted to ask Hunter. “Do you have a thing for Megan?”

  The question and the flash of shock that crossed Hunter’s face all but confirmed it.

  “Cameron told you, huh?”

  “I saw her talking to you, and she told me she suspected you might be interested. That’s all. Are you?”

  “Maybe.” He shrugged. “What’s the point? You’re the one she wants.”

  “We were never going to happen, and she’s known that for a long time. Don’t let that stop you.”

  “I don’t want to talk about her. You have enough of your o
wn problems without taking on mine, little brother.”

  Hunter never let Will forget he was sixteen entire months older than him. “If you get the chance to find out if there’s something there, take it. You never know where it might lead you.” Will left him with that pearl of wisdom and went down the stairs, eager to heed his own advice.

  CHAPTER 17

  Time to pee on the fire and call in the dogs.

  —The gospel according to Elmer Stillman

  Cameron drove slowly and cautiously through town to Will’s house. She’d made the drive so many times with him by now that she knew exactly where she was going, but after just getting her car out of the shop, she was on the lookout for wayward moose and other hazards.

  Nolan and Skeeter had done a beautiful job on the car, which looked as good as it had the day she picked it up from the dealer. Was that only sixteen days ago? One moose, one sexy rescuer and fifteen life-changing days later, she’d be going home a different person.

  Driving past the spot where their first fateful encounter had occurred, Cameron’s eyes filled once again. She’d been an absolute disaster as her last day in the office passed faster than any day before it ever had.

  Will had offered to take her to a hotel in Burlington for her last night in Vermont, but she’d told him she preferred his cozy cabin to a hotel. She wanted to spend their last night—for now—in the place where so many of their best moments had taken place.

  She was clinging to those two little words for now with everything she had. With the website project ongoing, she’d be back to Vermont several times in the next few months as they worked through the various stages of the design and implementation. Her first return trip would occur in about a month.

  Surely she could get through one month without him. She’d gotten through more than twenty-nine years without him, so she could survive thirty days. Or so she told herself. The thought of one day without Will’s handsome face on the pillow next to hers was almost too much to bear, let alone thirty such days.

  She took the right-hand turn onto his long driveway and negotiated the ruts like a seasoned pro, pulling up to the house to find he wasn’t there yet. They’d had many a conversation about the fact that he never locked his house. The city girl in her couldn’t conceive of a universe in which people didn’t lock their doors. But the city girl in her also couldn’t have conceived of a place like Butler, Vermont, until she had experienced it for herself.

  According to Will, unless you knew his house was there, you’d never have any reason to come down the road that led to it, so why bother to lock the place?

  She opened the door to an enthusiastic greeting from Tanner and Trevor. Cameron would miss them almost as much as she’d miss Will. “Hey, boys.” She stepped aside to let them out to romp in the snow after the long afternoon cooped up in the house. Then she went over to stoke the fire like she’d seen Will do a hundred times.

  It occurred to her how very much at home she’d come to feel in the secluded cabin in the woods, more so—if she was being honest—than she’d ever felt in the apartment she called home in the city. She liked the apartment and its lower Manhattan location, close to her office and many of her favorite haunts. But it was nowhere near as warm or as cozy as Will’s bare-bones cabin.

  She checked on the dogs and then curled up on the sofa, pulling the down comforter over her as she watched the fire dancing in the stone fireplace. As she finally let herself relax, she made a vow to enjoy this evening with Will and not ruin it with maudlin displays of emotion.

  The door flew open a short time later in a flurry of dog paws and gruff orders from Will. Tanner and Trevor were so happy to see him that they didn’t do a single thing he told them to do, which made Cameron laugh from the sofa.

  “Don’t encourage them,” he said gruffly. “Hey, nice fire.”

  “Thanks. I’m rather proud of it.”

  “I’m turning you into a regular country girl,” he said as he carried brown grocery bags to the kitchen.

  Reminded of all the ways she’d changed made Cameron wonder how her new self would feel about city life once she returned.

  “Your car looks awesome. Nolan and Skeeter to the rescue.”

  “They did a great job. She’s as pretty as she was before she met Fred.”

  “I think I saw some cat gut in the grill,” he said with a teasing smile and a wink.

  “That’s so gross. I still don’t believe he froze his dead cat.”

  “My mom would swear on a stack of Bibles that it’s true. She went to school with him, and he’s always been odd.”

  “That goes beyond odd. I can’t even think about it or I’ll never eat frozen food again.”

  “Speaking of food, I’m making linguine with clam sauce.”

  “You know how to make clam sauce?”

  He finished stashing the groceries and came over to join her on the sofa, leaning in for a kiss. “Prepare to be dazzled.”

  “I’m already dazzled,” she said, wrapping her hand around his neck to prolong the kiss.

  “I have two presents for you. Which one do you want first? Big one or small one?”

  “More presents? This really has to stop.”

  “No, it doesn’t.”

  She looked around him. “Where are they?”

  “Behind the sofa.”

  “You’re very sneaky.”

  “I prefer stealthy to sneaky. What’s it going to be?”

  Cameron pretended to give it some significant thought. “Small one first.”

  He reached behind the sofa and plopped a small brown bag on her lap. “I couldn’t let you leave Vermont without one of these.”

  Inside the bag, Cameron found an army green T-shirt that she held up to see what was printed on the front. The giant moose crossing sign made her want to laugh and cry at the same time.

  “Fred and I hope you’ll think of us every time you wear that.”

  “I’ll think of you both every minute of every day.”

  “Maybe you could give me a tiny bit more time than Fred gets?”

  Cameron appreciated his attempt to keep things lighthearted for as long as they could. “Nope. Sorry. He brought us together, so he’ll always own a piece of my heart.”

  Smiling, he said, “Ready for the other gift?”

  “I didn’t get you anything.”

  “Don’t say that. You’ve given me so much. I haven’t had this much fun in a really long time. If ever.” He punctuated his sweet words with an even sweeter kiss, breaking away only to reach for the other package.

  Cameron eyed the giant paper bag with trepidation.

  “Go ahead.”

  She put the bag on the floor so she could look inside. “Oh! Oh my God! Are those my boots?” She withdrew the gorgeous suede boots that were now a shade darker but were every bit as soft and gorgeous as they’d been before they encountered Vermont mud season.

  “Mrs. Jefferson said she tried to retain the original color, but when she couldn’t do that she thought you’d rather have them a tad bit darker than not at all.”

  Cameron couldn’t quit touching the soft suede or thinking about the night she’d ended up ankle deep in mud and he’d come to her rescue. Then the tears she’d managed to stave off all day were slipping down her cheeks. How was she supposed to handle her looming departure stoically if he insisted on being so sweet and thoughtful?

  “Thank you for this,” she said. “It means so much to me that you went to the trouble to have them cleaned.”

  “It was no trouble.”

  She put down the boots and turned to him. “You’re the nicest guy I’ve ever known.”

  “You know … You could just stay here forever.” The moment the words were out of his mouth, his eyes widened with dismay, as if he’d said something he hadn’t meant to. And then he looked directly at her, seeming to summon the courage to speak his mind. “I’d love that.”

  “If I stayed forever?”

  He nodded solemnly, and he�
��d never been more adorable.

  “You’d probably get tired of me in no time.”

  “No, I wouldn’t. You really could stay. If you want to. Like you said, someone has to oversee the website when it’s done. Why couldn’t it be you?”

  He’d obviously given the matter some thought. “I don’t know what to say.”

  “I didn’t mean to lay it on you like that, but I didn’t want you to leave without knowing what I’m thinking—or what I want.” As he spoke, his fingers spooled through her hair.

  “What do you want?” she asked, even though she suspected she already knew.

  “I want you. I want us. I want this. For a lot longer than fifteen days.”

  “It’s all happened so quickly.”

  “But it has happened, so now we’ve got to figure out what to do about it.”

  “I need some time, Will. There’s so much to consider.”

  “How much time?”

  “I don’t know, but I can’t decide anything tonight or tomorrow or the next day.”

  “Will you keep talking to me about what you’re thinking?”

  “I’m going to want to talk to you all the time.”

  “Good,” he said, sounding relieved.

  She ran her fingers over the pulsating muscle in his cheek. “If it’s any consolation, I’m every bit as undone over this as you are.”

  “It’s a huge consolation.”

  He put his arms around her and held her for a long time.

  Cameron had never felt more at home anywhere than she did with him, and for someone who’d had a somewhat lonely life, letting go of that feeling wouldn’t be easy.

  Her ringing cell interrupted their quiet interlude. “Do you mind if I get that? I haven’t had a signal all day, and it might be Lucy about work.”

  “Sure, go ahead.”

  She bent to retrieve her phone from her purse on the floor, saw Troy’s name on the caller ID and took the call because she hadn’t talked to him in more than a week.

  He started talking the minute she said hello. “What the heck did you say to Lucy? She’s melting down about you leaving the business and moving to Vermont.”